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BC needs to re-commit to SFU Surrey expansion MOU, official says

October 31, 2012

In a presentation to BC's all-party finance committee last month, the executive director of Simon Fraser University's Surrey campus reiterated a request that would eventually see the campus double its capacity from the current 2,500 full-time students to 5,000. For now, however, the institution would like the provincial government to approve the first phase of the project so the 800-student expansion can start in 2013. The request stems from an MOU the province and SFU signed in 2006 stating that the Surrey campus's physical space and enrolment would have to double by 2015 to meet regional demand for PSE seats. Those expansions have yet to be realized. "We need government to re-commit to the MOU," the SFU Surrey official said. She said there hasn't been any new funding for the institution for 3 years, despite rapid population growth in the area, more secondary school graduates seeking PSE, and a forecasted skills shortage that have fuelled demand even more. Cloverdale Reporter